What a hoot! Wharton provides a social commentary on women and their role, and pokes fun at the desires of women in the upper class society.
The ladies of this story come together to read books and "discuss," which always ends up being gossip instead of discussion on the novels they've read. Poor Mrs. Roby who never reads the books is deemed a failure in the group. Apparently she never contributes anything worthwhile to the discussions and is reading books that are "out of date." She is seriously judged by the rest of the group, to the point where I thought she would be asked to leave.
When their favorite author joins them for a meeting one afternoon, they find they have nothing of value to talk about. There is an awkward silence among the group and in their attempts to prove their seriousness of reading, they forget all the books they've read and realize they haven't ever discussed anything of value, so they have nothing to contribute to the conversation.
Until, "poor" Mrs. Roby jumps in with a discussion on "Xingu." The rest of the club pretends to understand what she's talking about when they realize that the author among them is impressed and intrigued by what Mrs. Roby has to say. The two leave together, leaving the rest of the group to figure out what Xingu is.
I found this to be a very humorous read: these ladies try so hard to fit in and look good in front of an author, but because they don't have anything of value to contribute (each on is too concerned with her appearance to attempt conversation), they end up looking silly. And, instead of giving credit to Mrs. Roby for saving their hides in what was a very dull luncheon, they criticize her for monopolizing the author's attention and disregard her in frustration.
It's a short 26 pages (depending on the format), so it's an easy read and it goes by quickly, but it's entertaining and funny and it makes you think on the lengths you go to please the people around you and doing/acting/saying what society thinks you should do/act/say.
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